Singapore-based company has unveiled a video jukebox dubbed ZiiEagle. While the product name provides little hint of its capability, the ZiiEagle is supposed to be a movie box preloaded with 668 Shaw Brothers Chinese films. The collection includes The Kingdom and the Beauty and One-Armed Swordsman, which should appeal to classic movie buffs, as well as retirees. Included in the package are also around 200 titles not released on DVDs and TV. (Cnet - Crave)

“As long as I have the talent and there’s a demand for the old Chinese man - whether he’s a philosopher, or a master, or an old-time restaurant owner, or a villain, or a so-called good guy - I will always be working,” he said.

Wang, 44, first caught the world’s eye with Berlin Silver Bear-winning Beijing Bicycle (2001) and most recently competed at Cannes with Chongqing Blues. Eleven tells the autobiographical story of four 10-year-old boys discovering the world of adults — and its violence and sexuality — at the end of China’s decade-long Cultural Revolution.

The movie tells the story of a van driver (Louis Koo) who kills a restaurant owner (Yin Xiaotian) in a car accident. When he finds out that Yin’s wife (Huang Yi) is pregnant and has to work hard to run her husband’s business, he decides to help her even though it may anger his girlfriend (Karen Mok). (Sina)

14 year-old Zhou Mengqiao is thought to be the latest of 13 ‘mou girls’ to be cast in Zhang Yimou’s 13 Women of Jinling (aka Nanjing). In recent weeks Zhang has been training and auditioning young girls to play in his latest production. Also, Zhang has been trying to cast a big name Hollywood name in the film. Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and Tom Hanks were in the running, Hanks’ fee was reportedly half the film’s budget. The latest rumor is that Leonardo DiCaprio has agreed to appear but an official announcement is pending. (Sina)

Shu Qi isn’t afraid to post a picture of her grey hair, or ‘accumulated wisdom’ as she calls it

hu Qi blogged, ‘Fat’ is a word temporarily disappeared from her dictionary (Xinhua)

“Aftershock” is ultimately a small family melodrama revolving around perennial themes of love, forgiveness and coming-of-age. Feng ditches his usual sharp-tongued humor and feisty characters to concentrate on stimulating the tear ducts through traditional but polished storytelling technique.

Pirated copies of Aftershock have already surfaced on the eve of the national release. One online 100 minute version has appeared with the final 20 minutes missing. 30 minute cellphone videos and CD-ROMs have also appeared in Guangzhou. (Xinhua)

The Liaoshen Evening News published an investigation into the commercial backing of the film, interviewing its producer on the Tangshan side, Yao Jianguo.

Related:

The deputy manager of the big shot New Film Association, Gao Jun, accepted an interview and said that most of the films in China are cutting a loss. This is true for the majority of the 20 films shown in June. For example, Love In Cosmos stopped showing after not making 5 million yuan, Ocean Heaven will hardly make the 8 million yuan it spent on production, and it would be hard for Welcome to Shamatown to make a profit on its 16 million yuan production and 8 million yuan running costs.

As previously announced, Stanley Tong is starting an ‘action star training’ course in Shanghai. The goal is to develop a new generation of action stars and train them for TV and film. The model is the old TVB artists course that created stars such as Chow Yun-Fat, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Andy Lau and others. Tuition will be for 5 months and cost $98,000. Guest lecturers will include Jackie Chan, Gordon Chan, Eric Tsang, Yuen Tak, Won Bin and others. The best students will be offered roles in Tong’s two TV and two film productions. Partner Eric Tsang stated the training policy, “Training as short as possible, to work the sooner the better.” (Xinhua)

Shanghai Youth Daily article wonders whether Faye Wong has misgivings about returning. The article cites 1) the smaller venues - to ensure full house, fear of loss in popularity, 2) longer advance ticket sales period - to gauge sales, 3) no full tour - concerts limited to Beijing and Shanghai, rumors of a tour being cancelled, concerts are to make ‘milk money’ and to recoup losses due to bad investments by her husband Li Yapeng, 4) ‘concert then retreat’ strategy could be marketing ploy to sell tickets. (Xinhua)

April 21, 2010

What is it about Hong Kong gangster films that capture the imagination? Is it the macho posturing of the heros and villains? Is it the slow-mo walk down the street with a legion of followers as the hero goes to a fight? Or is it the harem of attractive girls that invariably throw themselves at the hero?

Shawn Dou Xiao - Hawthorne Tree Forever?

Another young lead for Zhang Yimou’s secretive Hawthorne Tree Forever has been discovered. He is Chinese-Canadian Shawn Dou (Dou Xiao). A previous young leading actor, Jiang Ruijia, is thought to have been replaced due to her unauthorized communication with the press without Zhang Yimou’s consent. (Xinhua), (cri)

April 21 declared national day of mourning for Yushu, Qinghai Province earthquake victims

The State Council set April 21st, the 7th day since the earthquake, a day of national mourning, all Chinese embassies including abroad ones had their flags flew at half-mast, public entertainments ceased in mourning. Most websites in China turned grey, some shut down for the day. (China Hush)

Faye Wong (Apr.20)

Faye Wong was one of the many celebrities at yesterday’s CCTV’s live fundraiser for Qinghai earthquake relief. Hong Kong artistes are already planning an event for Apr.26 at the Hong Kong Coliseum